Complex Technical Systems - Publications - Faculty & Research

07 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

XTV: Xerox’s Attempted Recovery From “Fumbling the Future”

his partners began reviewing the company's inventions. The first opportunity they uncovered was Advanced Workstation Products (AWP). Xerox's high-end printers actually were complex computer systems that... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough

10 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 10

rescue of 33 Chilean miners. More and more people in nearly every industry now work on teams that vary in duration and have constantly shifting membership. Teaming presents technical and interpersonal challenges: people must get up to... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

16 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

To Fight Climate Change, Should Green Investors Reconsider Big Oil?

co-researchers wanted to find out whether sustainable investment capital is flowing to companies that are in the best position to solve the urgent and complex problems created by climate change. In their new working paper, The... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Energy

29 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

Hunting for a Hot Job in High Tech? Try 'Digitization Economist'

and TripAdvisor contain hundreds of millions of consumer reviews; online marketplaces also rely on reputation systems to facilitate trust between strangers. Economists help companies design reputation systems, “focusing on understanding... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Technology; Education

24 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Busting Six Myths About Customer Loyalty Programs

each retailer? This complexity might lead to less price transparency for shoppers and result in more monopolistic behavior by retailers. In this case the regulator might have to step in to ensure shopper interests are guaranteed through... View Details

Keywords: by Marcel Corstjens & Rajiv Lal; Retail; Consumer Products

02 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Ray A. Goldberg

framework for the field in their book A Concept of Agribusiness. That seminal work traces a complex value-added chain that begins with the farmer's purchase of seed and livestock and ends with a product fit for the consumer's table.... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Agriculture & Agribusiness

27 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 27

principles. In particular, I show how Google used these tactics to enter numerous markets, to compel usage of its services, and often to dominate competing offerings. I explore the technical and commercial implementations of these... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Jan 2021
In Practice

Leadership Advice for Biden: Restore a Sense of Calm

them. So, today we find ourselves at a crossroads. We can either "go back to normal" by relying on existing institutions and on the neoliberal economic model. Or we can dare to rethink and reform our economic and social systems in depth.... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

06 May 2015
What Do You Think?

Are You Ready for Personalized Predictive Analytics?

"Businesses are becoming so complex that integrating predictive analytics in decision making is not very far away I think 'predictive analytics' is the 'Moneyball' for businesses." Kapil Kumar Sopory said that, "Prevention... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Jan 2013
What Do You Think?

Should We Rethink the Promise of Teams?

Even techniques such as brainstorming have been shown to be much less effective in advancing creative solutions than they are satisfying to those who engage in them. She excludes from this criticism the kind of teamwork that often occurs in open View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Jun 2011
What Do You Think?

Is it Time for a National Bankruptcy?

question this raises is which lenders, nations or commercial institutions? Shann Turnbull, citing some of his own work on the subject, argued that the risks of allowing insolvency "can no longer be reliably managed because they have become too View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

08 Jun 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Twenty-first Century Skill: Trading Carbon Credits

system function when it's implemented in the real world? For the exercise, the class is divided into groups of five students. Several days before the exercise, each student receives private information regarding his or her role in the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

01 Mar 2004
Lessons from the Classroom

Mission to Mars: It Really Is Rocket Science

more effectively design and measure complex projects and organizations. Sean Silverthorne: What drew you to the NASA/JPL Mars program as potential case material? Alan MacCormack: First, it was an ideal context in which to explore one of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Jan 2000
Lessons from the Classroom

New Game, New Rules: Developing Managers for a Competitive World

respond rapidly whenever necessary. As information technology escalates the pace and complexity of business everywhere, managers can ill afford to operate according to the bureaucratic dictates of the past. As organizations become... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

12 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 12, 2008

workforce diversity initiatives. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-019.pdf Cases & Course Materials Accounting for Business Combinations: Acquisition Method Harvard Business School Note 108-067 A technical note... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

IPR: Protecting Your Technology Transfers

building an electrical component. This information instructs local engineers and other local skilled workers concerning key elements of the firm's technology. The reforms we studied appear to be effective because they were sustained, broad-based efforts to improve IPR.... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

28 Aug 2008
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: History Matters

decades have generated rich empirical data on firms and business systems that can confirm or challenge many of today's fashionable theories and assumptions by other disciplines. Business history has broadened its scope in the last two... View Details

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones & Anthony Mayo

22 Apr 2020
Research Event

How Investors Are Sizing Up Climate Change’s Risks—and Opportunities

Until a few years ago, climate change’s potential impact seemed abstract for many investors. Now, as sea levels rise, hurricanes intensify, and droughts threaten food supplies, many investors are confronting its financial realities. But it’s not a simple calculation.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services

16 Oct 2013
Op-Ed

Response to Readers: Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking

piped to the population centers. Syngas fuel-based power systems have much higher end-to-end CO2 emissions than either natural gas or LNG based systems. In my mind, it is better to learn how to manage fracking risks than to encourage even... View Details

Keywords: by Joe Lassiter; Energy; Utilities

26 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 26, 2019

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55668 2019 Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences Multivariate Unsupervised Machine Learning for Anomaly Detection in Enterprise Applications By: Elsner,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Publications